What happens when the life you thought you had planned suddenly changes?

Siobhan Freegard OBE is the founder of Netmums, a serial entrepreneur and one of the most influential voices in building communities for women. Over the past 25 years, she has helped millions of women feel less alone — but her own journey began with a profound personal struggle.In this episode of Health Applied, Siobhan opens up about becoming a mother, postnatal depression, anxiety, intrusive thoughts and the enormous identity shift that comes with motherhood.She also shares why she believes women don't simply return to who they were after major life changes, whether that's motherhood, perimenopause or another period of transformation. Instead, we become something new.

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Chapters:

00:00 – Meet Siobhan Freegard OBE

00:45 – When motherhood changed everything

02:48 – Siobhan's experience of postnatal depression

03:08 – Matrescence: the transformation of becoming a mother

04:17 – Why motherhood changes your identity

05:10 – You don't go back to who you were

05:31 – Perimenopause: becoming someone new again

06:42 – Finding the fun woman you were before

07:01 – What Siobhan thinks about postnatal depression now

08:03 – Why mothers need a village

09:17 – Where is the community?

10:00 – The intrusive thoughts mums are afraid to talk about

11:40 – Why intrusive thoughts can feel so terrifying

12:05 – How Netmums began

14:20 – Building Netmums before social media

16:13 – Building it without funding

17:05 – “I was just a mum”

18:10 – The mums who said Netmums changed their lives

19:15 – How big did Netmums become?

20:00 – The vision behind Netmums

21:30 – Why having a vision matters

23:00 – Pain, purpose and solving a real problem

24:00 – Why you can only control what you do today

25:00 – The next chapter: Chatmum.ai

27:00 – Can AI really support mothers?

29:00 – What women actually need from technology

31:00 – Turning personal experience into purpose

33:00 – Motherhood, ambition and identity

35:00 – Relationships, divorce and starting again

38:00 – Knowing when something isn't working

40:00 – The importance of self-care

42:00 – Why women put themselves last

44:00 – Supporting women through difficult times

46:00 – Siobhan's work beyond Netmums

48:00 – Finding purpose in the next chapter

50:00 – What Siobhan has learned from 25 years of supporting women

53:00 – The power of community

55:00 – Siobhan's advice for women today

57:00 – Final thoughts